Cloud‑Scale Routing for AI‑Driven Network Growth with DriveNets
At Fierce Network TV, Jean-Louis Le Roux, EVP International Networks & CTIO, Orange Wholesale, discussed how disaggregation is at the heart of their network transformation.
Chapters:
- 0:00 – Introduction
- 0:25 – Jean-Louis Le Roux, EVP International Networks & CTIO, Orange Wholesale
- 01:10 – Disaggregation is at the heart of this transformation
- 02:04 – The Orange disaggregation journey
Full transcript
All right, welcome back to FINTV’s coverage of MWC Barcelona. I’m once again in a DriveNets stand, and we’re going to be talking to Orange International about their strategy on digital transformation. Let’s get right into it.
Can you tell me a little bit about Orange International’s network transformation strategy and what the thinking there is?
Yes, we’re currently transforming our network architecture. We used to have a quite rigid IP and PLS network, and we are moving to a more flexible one with a few major evolutions. We are disaggregating our network boxes. We are moving customers our configuration from the box to the cloud, moving to, I would say, a stateless IP network. We are introducing AI to drive the network. We are moving to application-aware routing, and we are opening APIs to allow our customers to configure their services.
Got it.
You mentioned network disaggregation there. Can you tell me what the benefits that you see there?
Yes, disaggregation is at the heart of this transformation. Decorrelating the data plane and the control plane on the box, for us, this is very fundamental. It will allow to provide modularity to select the best of hardware and the best of the software. It allows as well to scale easily without modifying the control plane. I would say we see a cost improvement, the cost optimization on our side. This is complementary with the virtualisation. We take actually an hybrid mode. We disaggregate the box and we move customer configuration to the cloud. With this combination, we have a much more flexible IP network.
It sounds like a complex ecosystem that you’re dealing with in the technology. Of course, we’re here at the DriveNets stand.
Can you tell me about that partnership and what you’re expecting to come from it?
Yes. Basically, on our disaggregation journey within Orange, we have two parts actually. At the access, we have been disaggregating with pure open-source solution, Sonic. In the core, we have been looking for a partner, for a solution. We have been launching on RFP a few months ago, and we have been selecting DriveNets. We have been selecting DriveNets for the quality of service, and we did some intensive trial that demonstrated the quality. For the modularity as well, the ability to decorrelate the hardware and the software. We also demonstrated the scaling, the ability to scale easily, and as well, the cost provided with the DriveNets was very good. We selected DriveNets, and now we are looking at use cases. We are going to deploy this technology at the edge, at the edge level. It will be a very good journey.
I’m sure. Well, congratulations on all the hard work and on this partnership, and we’re excited to hear all about it as it progresses. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Thanks.
